Results for "Akua Naru"

Musician

Akua Naru

Born: August 20, 1978

Akua Naru is a hip hop artist, poet, producer, playright, performer, and Assistant Professor of Hip Hop at the University of California, Santa Cruz. With classic boom bap hip hop sounds, socially conscious rhymes, and jazz-soul elements, Naru has garnered attention and accumulated rave reviews.

Akua Naru and her band have a reputation for captivating audiences and inspiring many. Her music and performances are a testament to the legacy of soul music and the powerful trailblazing female artist tradition on which it builds: hip-hop's spectacular global, poetic, intellectual, spiritual, political, feminist blend.  

Video

Poetry: How Does It Feel Now???

Featuring the music of Akua Naru
Duration: 07:55
September 7, 2025

The blending of jazz and poetry has been a deep, yet off-and-on affair. Peak periods of co-mingling include the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, the Beat Generation in the 1950s, the Black Arts Movement in the '60s and '70s, and hip hop starting in the '90s. Singer, composer, educator and activist {{m: Akua Naru = 141738}} takes this jazz/poetry blend intensely into the present. She has been compared to famous author Toni Morrison and has addressed topics including gender-based violence, the African diaspora and loving relationships. One of her defining pieces is the slow-burn "Poetry: How Does it Feel Now???" The lyrics declare "My, I wanna drink the sweat of your intellect; Reflect, and watch your light passion mark my neck… This right here is poetry." While enjoying the lyrics that start at 00:36, spend time appreciating the sax-fronted ambient groove.